


Shake the Night (and Let Me Awake)

by WaffleHyuckie



Series: Regulate [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Based on NCT's Regular to Irregular, Dreams, Dreams vs. Reality, Gen, Kun is only mentioned, Markly comes home, Other, Rated teen for swearing, Short, Sicheng and Yangyang can move between the real world and dreamscape, Spoilers, all of wayv are already out of the dreamscape, title is from comeback japanese ver
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 20:21:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20895560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaffleHyuckie/pseuds/WaffleHyuckie
Summary: "The Bridge: a place where hope goes to die. Hidden in the cracks between dreams and reality, it's the only thing that connects the real world to Dreamscape.Time seems to work a lot differently here - Ten and Doyoung reckon the Bridge is somehow also resting in the twilight of space-time. You never really knew how long you'd spend here until The Nothing would swallow you back up; which would sometimes be a result of being awakened in the real world.It is within this personal hell that Donghyuck waits almost everyday, hoping for the next rescue to be a success. But he knows, deep down, that this time will be a failure. Like all the other times. Like the first time and like the last time. There’s next to no chance of getting back the ones he loves.Or so he's come to believe."Mark wakes up.





	Shake the Night (and Let Me Awake)

The shadowy room was quickly becoming a sickeningly familiar place to Donghyuck.  
  
He opened his eyes hesitantly to see its dark blue, illuminated walls - all of which were plain and faceless. Devoid of life or character. The screens, as usual, displayed nothing but static and the rare flickers of something he still couldn't identify.  
  
He felt alone here. More than that. He sighed and walked over to the screens, collapsing down onto one of the chairs as his scrutinizing gaze scanned his surroundings.  
  
The Bridge: a place where hope goes to die. Hidden in the cracks between dreams and reality, it's the only thing that connects the real world to Dreamscape. Its only requirement is to be unconscious, yet it's so incredibly difficult to reach for those who don't know how. Sicheng and Yangyang seem to be the only ones who find it easy to visit, though they prefer not to.  
  
Time seems to work a lot differently here - Ten and Doyoung reckon the Bridge is somehow also resting in the twilight of space-time. You never really knew how long you'd spend here until The Nothing would swallow you back up; which would sometimes be a result of being awakened in the real world.  
  
The Nothing was its own issue. The crackling static that would swallow you before spitting you back out into the waking world. Kun theorised that it only appears when the connection between a person and the Dream world is at it's thinnest, when someone is so close to escaping. It makes the Dreamscape fragile, and so The Nothing appears to destroy it, consuming everything that isn't real until it reaches the one thing causing the fraying in the fabrics of faux-reality.  
  
Back to the Bridge. It is within this personal hell that Donghyuck waits almost everyday, hoping for the next rescue to be a success. But he knows, deep down, that this time will be a failure. Like all the other times. Like the first time and like the last time. There’s next to no chance of getting back the ones he loves.  
  
Or so he's come to believe.  
  
The Bridge has worked before - it worked for him. The only reason he can enter and exit the Dreamscape at will is via this small passage - displaying its capabilities and usefulness to the team. So why does it not seem to work anymore? Was he an anomaly? Was he just lucky?  
  
Even then, the others before him had, too, escaped through this place. What power did it hold over them - and what power did it bestow to them in order to escape fro Dreamscape?  
  
The thoughts, theories and possibilities whirled around in his head, buzzing and crackling, conspiring to give him a nasty headache that he'd barely be able to ignore.  
  
Until he realised the buzzing wasn't just his head.  
  
Sharply, he snapped his head up, drawn to look at the corner of the room where a static figure was forming - flickering and twitching until suddenly a familiar boy was stood there, blinking open his eyes as he took in the sight of the bridge.  
  
"Mark..." Donghyuck whispered, standing up from his chair. He stared at the older in disbelief, tension curling and gripping at his entire body.  
  
Mark blinked at him, seemingly surprised at his own sudden appearance, before rushing over to Donghyuck, embracing the boy tightly, gripping onto the tips of reality. His legs seemed to tremble, muscles shaking a little with exertion and Hyuck allowed the older to lean on him more, trying to reserve his energy as much as possible.  
  
"I missed you..." he stared at Mark in wonder, eyes sparkling with love and joy.  
  
"Missed you, too..." still hazed with a cloud of relief, Mark nuzzled into Hyuck's neck where he was leaning; for once letting the younger hold him and relishing in the warm, familiar touch. Heaven only knows how long he's been without actual contact - a physical comfort to latch so desperately onto.  
  
He didn't know how long Mark had been trying to get here; pushing himself to break the limits of Dreamscape to the point of its collapse. He didn't know exactly how much effort it would take for him to do so. All he knew was that Mark was with him - with them - now, and he'd do everything in his power to make it stay that way.  
  
They breathed for a little while, holding tightly onto each other as Hyuck waited with bated breath. If Mark had made it, then The Nothing wouldn't be far behind.  
  
When the tell-tale crackling buzz came, Mark tensed.  
  
"Hyuck..." he whispered, as if too much noise would draw the static closer. "Hyuck what's going on? What _is that?_" His grip tightened and Donghyuck immediately ran his hand through Mark's hair, trying to keep him calm, pressing their foreheads together to keep him focused.  
  
"We're going home." He replied softly, eyeing The Nothing as it prowled closer. "Stay close to me, and brace yourself... This might hurt."  
  
They watched as the Bridge dissolved around them, the static, at last, rushing to eat them alive - swallowing them in a fiery uptake before everything cut out. Just like it always has done with him. Even with repeated exposure, the heat always surprised him. It didn't hurt anymore, but the suffocating feeling was just as horrible.  
  
He heard Mark's gasp and strangled cry; felt the boy's finger digging into his arms before everything went black.  
  
♤♡◇♧♤♡◇♧♤♡◇♧♤♡◇♧♤♡◇♧♤♡◇♧  
  
Donghyuck awoke to the familiar sight of the apartment. For a fleeting moment, he'd thought Mark hadn't made it and sunk back into Dreamscape, but a body shifting beside him on his bed told him a much different story.  
  
Sitting up, he took a second to glance at Mark's sleeping form - illuminated by the light from the windows. Mark was here. Mark wasn’t trapped anymore. _It worked._  
  
"We made it..." Realisation finally cracked him across the face, causing him to tumble straight out of bed in a falil of limbs, urgent to get up and drag the others up to see what he was seeing. He landed on the floor with a large thump, his excitement breaking the pain of his fall, instead shooting electric energy that seemingly burst at his fingers like pins and needles.  
  
“Hyuck?” Doyoung’s concerned voice came from the stairs, the elder most likely hovering at the bottom, waiting for any signal to call him up there. 

“Hyung! Mark’s here!”

There was silence for a whole second, the breath of the apartment seemed to hitch, but the sound of many footsteps suddenly ascending the stairs told Doghyuck that the others had heard him, and were just as unconvinced as he felt. Doyoung rushed in first, helping Hyuck up from the floor while Sicheng and Ten spotted Mark.  
  
The group crowded around him, Donghyuck now set on his bed, with Doyoung gently trying to bring Mark into awareness - calling his name and running hands through his hair. It took a while, but Mark eventually did awake, eyes opening narrowly as he comprehended what was going on.  
  
Mark, too, was awfully groggy when he woke up in the real world, head spinning and mind clouded. He had less energy than Hyuck did from all his attempts at escaping the dream world and his recovery took a lot longer, his mind and body having to recharge after all its been through.  
  
Eventually, though, Mark was able to stay awake, hold up more conversations and move around, marvelling at how clear and normal everything felt in the real world. Nothing would suddenly change - nothing would seem slow or sluggish. It felt like time was running again.  
  
He felt so free.  
  
So _alive…_  
  
He sat on the kitchen counter flexing his hand, watching with rapt interest at that fact he felt in total control of his body. Doyoung chuckled, amused at the display.  
  
“Still can’t get over it?” he teased, continuing before Mark could defend himself. “Don’t worry. We all felt that way.” the younger nodded, tapping the counter.  
  
“Has Sicheng found any leads on the others?” he asked, hopeful that he’d at least found traces of activity from the rest trapped in the dream world. It burnt out as Doyoung shook his head.  
  
“No. Not yet. Though Yuta is becoming very active in the dream world. As is Johnny.”  
  
“So they’re most likely to be next?”  
  
“Yeah. It could surprise us, though. Hyuck’s break through the Bridge was entirely out of nowhere. He had the weakest signal out of all of you. We thought we’d…” the words die off, almost as if saying them would make them real. He clearly didn't want to think about losing more of them. Mark continued the thought anyway.  
  
“Lose him like the others?”  
  
Doyoung sighed, looking down at the counter, sorrow and guilt in his eyes. Mark lets out his own sigh, thighs shuffling as he re-positioned himself on the surface that the older was trying to glare holes into. He fidgets with his hands before speaking, trying to think of what to say.  
  
“Don’t worry.” he muttered. “We’ll find them...They won’t be lost forever.” a small shake of his head. “They can’t be.”  
  
And indeed, they couldn’t be. They weren’t. As shown by Sicheng’s monitor flashing to life as it picked up a new, weak signal. Much different from the ones already picked up on the system. He immediately took to analyzing it, almost sobbing when the signal was found a match in their database.  
  
“You’re alive…” he whispered to himself, fingers gently brushing against the screen. The blinking dot stared back at him, _mocking_ the hope that was building inside him. _Taunting_ his desperation.  
  
_ Fuck that dot. _  
  
He stood up abruptly, catching everyone's attention. Meeting their concerned faces with his own look of pure determination, he headed towards the stairs.  
  
"Sicheng? What's happened!? What are you doing?" That was Kun, who was close to chasing after Sicheng, the younger not even bothering to turn around when he answered bluntly.  
  
"I’m getting my brother back."  
  
They were left in a confused and stunned silence as he stalked off upstairs. Yangyang got up first, looking at Sicheng's monitor. He tilted his head, reading the information that had been left on-screen.  


  * **Huang Renjun**
  * _Gender: Male_
  * _Age: 18_
  * _Height: 5'6"_
  * _Weight: 115 lbs_
  * _Healthy, active_
  * _Current Status: Lost_
  * _Dream Level: Deepscape_

Yangyang swallowed unsurely as he scanned the last line of text. He, too, stood up and rushed to follow Sicheng upstairs without a word to the others. 

  * _Possibility of safe return: **10% **_


End file.
